For the past decade or so, workers have been operating with the knowledge that the economy is down, jobs are scarce or non-existent in some sectors and that their weekly paycheck has to be stretched just to make ends meet. Dwindling savings were a big consideration as were luxury buys, homes, etc. In short, the worker of yesterday couldn’t afford to slip up, so was working to stay exactly in line, neither slacking nor excelling.
And while the non-slacking aspect here is great, it’s that lack of excellent and risky work that keeps innovation and true genius suppressed during a recession. But now with the recession coming to an end, jobs available, the housing market doing well, unemployment down, pay up—it’s clear that any company that continues to operate under the assumption that everything will remain the same despite so many drastic changes is a company soon to hit rough times.
Project Management is Critical Moving Forward
So, what are HR professionals from companies who have successfully planned for and managed this change doing? Implementing more performance management. Being proactive here is key. Managing the performance of your employees now will cut off the snake at the head, keeping your business running smoothly and on the upswing over the upcoming quarters and years.
Don’t believe us?
5 Key Reasons You Should Implement Performance Management.
Here are five undeniable reasons that you should look into performance management for your company, today:
1. A Changing Economy Means a Changing Business. As the economy surges, your business is going to need to respond and grow in kind, taking advantage of opportunities at critical moments. To do that, you need the right people in place, especially if you wish to recruit the new talent that a company on the rise needs for the future. Performance management ensures you have the right employees now, doing their best work, to help lock in the right employees of the future, who will enter a brilliantly performing company due to the performance management you put in place today.
2. Careers Over Jobs. During an economic downswing, many people consider themselves lucky to just have a job that pays the bills. Therefore, they just focus on that: their job. As times become easier all around, workers tend to get more career-orientated, focusing on the future and savings. Performance management opens up a dialogue between workers and management, allowing an honest assessment of the fit. Does an employee have ambitions, goals and skills that were heretofore overlooked or unmentioned? Or perhaps the company was only that, a job and not a career, for the employee. Performance management provides clarity all around.
3. Keep Competition at Bay. Headhunters are always looking for talent inside and outside of companies. Do you really want your star employees being lured away because they feel your place of business is lacking motivation and communication? Offering performance management is so much more than just ticking off boxes during an evaluation—it’s an ongoing dialogue that keeps motivation high, productivity skyrocketing and employees feeling like they matter. This makes them less likely to leave, especially since their hard work will earn them reward.
4. Understanding Rewards. Speaking of rewards (i.e. salary), when the economy is on the upswing, it becomes apparent that the company’s budget isn’t as tight. At this point, employees will start expecting raises or bonuses, especially if they’ve toughed out the recession with you. But as anyone in management knows, it’s impossible to give everyone raises—it’s just not in the budget. Performance management software works two ways here. First, it helps employees understand what is important to the company in terms of their performance, helping them improve upon the areas they need so they can get those raises and bonuses. Two, it helps management easily identify standout employees who are deserving of a raise or bonus.
5. Performance Management Software. Finally, with all of the above benefits being undeniable, it bears mentioning that they can all be easily achieved without much upheaval or stress on your organization. Performance management software has taken a lot of the guesswork out of the job. Now, HR professionals can have email reminders sent to them about talking with this employee or that. This software also creates liability, making it easy to set goals and checkpoints for individual employees (or entire departments) and check back on them to see that these goals were met.
All in all, there are absolutely no drawbacks to performance management, especially if it is done correctly. Luckily, performance management software ensures that it is done correctly while simultaneously saving you money and headache.
